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Cambridge Exam Questions

Cambridge. Examinations in political economy, 1872-1873.

 

Another set of political economy exams from almost 150 years ago. Cf. the 1868-1872 examination questions from Harvard.

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19th Century Cambridge examinations in political economy
posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror

Cambridge University examination papers, Michaelmas term, 1871 to Easter term, 1872.

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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION PAPERS
MICHAELMAS TERM, 1872 TO EASTER TERM, 1873.

From the MORAL SCIENCES TRIPOS.

TUESDAY, Nov. 26, 1872. 1 to 4.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

  1. If a person saves and hoards ten thousand sovereigns, or a thousand ten pound notes, does his action in either case tend to increase the wealth of the country? Give reasons for your answer.
    A person receives an annuity of £1000, but uses for his personal expenses only £500, saving the rest; shew either by a mathematical formula, or by a general explanation, that after a certain number of years the country will begin to be enriched by his means, but not earlier.
  2. Why does skilled labour command a higher price than unskilled? Shew that there are two causes, one necessary and permanent, the other depending on the circumstances of the society; and find the condition for the existence of the latter.
  3. Assuming that in a system of large farming, labour is more productive than in a system of small farming; shew that a country of small farms may nevertheless support both a larger total population, and also a larger manufacturing and commercial population, than the same country would support under the other system; and find the condition of either result.
    Are there any causes which might render the labourer more productive where labour in the abstract is less so? Shew however that the truth of the above proposition does not depend on this distinction.
  4. Enunciate the principle of free trade; and examine whether there are any exceptions to the generally beneficial effects of free trade on both the countries concerned, either from economical or from political causes.
  5. Shew that a landlord cannot indemnify himself for a tax upon rent by raising its amount. Can you suggest reasons why this proposition would be much less true in a rudimentary than in a highly developed state of society, even supposing the two states to be absolutely alike in respect of the security of property?
    How far is the above proposition true of the landlord of a house?
  6. Shew that every commodity permanently offered for sale has a minimum average price; and examine in what case the price will exceed this minimum, and by what it is then determined.
    Two cloth manufacturers, A and B, start each with a capital of £10,000. A, who invests £2500 of his capital in permanent machinery, sells his cloth at 8s. 6d. a yard. B‘s machinery is similar to A‘s, but turns out inferior work, and costs only £1000. If profits are 10 per cent, shew that B‘s cloth will sell for 8s. 4d. a yard.
    If the machinery, instead of being permanent, wears out in a year, shew that B‘s cloth will sell for 7s. 1d. a yard.
  7. In what case is an inconvertible paper currency detrimental to a country? what is the sign of its being detrimental? and to whom is the detriment done?
  8. Quote instances to shew, that the rate of wages has very much less influence on the cost of production than might at first sight appear.
  9. Ricardo observes that a country may import commodities which it has the means of making much cheaper at home. Shew how this is theoretically possible, without assuming ignorance or negligence on the part of the importing nation: and at the same time give reasons for the extreme rarity of the occurrence as a matter of fact.
  10. Describe the means by which the transactions of international commerce are carried on with the least possible waste in the carrying power. E. g. England produces cotton, woollen and iron goods: France, silks and wines: Russia, corn and other agricultural productions: Australia, sheep, gold, &c. How is the distribution of these several commodities over the world, and the payment for each of them brought about?

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 80.

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From the MORAL SCIENCES TRIPOS.

THURSDAY, Nov. 28, 1872. 9 to 12 a.m.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

  1. Investigate the principles that should regulate the price of a postage stamp (for internal circulation).
  2. How far is the price of a newspaper determined by the cost of its production? how far by supply and demand?
  3. “So far from the 6 per cent, rate (of discount) having caused any inconvenient pressure, it has hitherto totally failed in bringing back any of the redundant means held by the community, and which, such is the general prosperity, they prefer keeping in their desks to putting them to productive use through banking channels.”
    Point out the economical errors contained in this passage.
  4. A government taxes the manufacture of beer. People do not leave off drinking beer, the demand for it remains the same, and the manufacturers can raise the price to the full amount of the tax. The consumers save the extra price by economizing in use of provisions, but the demand for these does not fall off, as the government spends the tax in buying provisions.
    What will be the effect on prices? and what inference may be drawn as to general laws of rise and fall of price?
  5. Australia exports wool largely to England.
    Examine briefly the manner and extent in which the price of Australian wool in England would be affected by the following occurrences:

(1) Large consumption of Australian mutton in England.
(2) Cessation of the returning stream of enriched English emigrants, from Australia to England.
(3) Extensive gold-discoveries in Australia.

  1. What will be the effect, if any, on the rents of a country of either of the following occurrences?

(1) A large migration of the agricultural population to the manufacturing districts:
(2) The abolition of Protection.

  1. How soon after the first colonisation of a new and fertile country will any part of its land be rented? What will determine the amount of the highest rent paid, and how will this be affected by the progress of civilisation?
  2. Between two countries, chiefly agricultural, the exchange is at par: how will it be affected by the discovery in one of the two countries of large mines of coal and iron? Examine the reason and the limits of the effect produced.
  3. Mill says that a tax on the raw material of a manufacture “limits unnecessarily the industry of the country: a portion of the fund destined by its owners for production being diverted from its purpose.”
    In order to test the truth of this statement compare in detail the effects produced by taxing wool and cloth respectively, considering both the temporary effects produced at the time of imposition of such taxes and also their permanent effects.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 83.

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From the MORAL SCIENCES TRIPOS.

FRIDAY, Nov. 29, 1872. 1 to 4.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

[Not more than four questions are to be attempted.]

  1. Give a history of the development of the Economic view of agricultural production from Quesnay to Ricardo. Examine especially Adam Smith’s view. Notice and explain the difference between his account of rent of land, and of mines. What does he mean by saying that “the most fertile mine determines the price;” and is there any sense in which the statement is defensible?
  2. Give briefly the different views that have been taken of the Foundation of Value. What is meant by the “amount of value” in the country? Is the phrase justifiable? Give Bastiat’s Theory of Value, examining

(1) How far it is possible to make it include all cases:
(2) How far it is useful in determining the precise value of anything.

How far is Bastiat’s criticism of Adam Smith for “attaching value to material things” well founded?

  1. Give a history of the changes which have taken place in the economic relation of the colonies to the mother-country, in so far as this is determined by law: and examine how far in any stage of a colony’s development Protection may be advantageous to (1) the mother-country, (2) the colony.
  2. Examine and compare the different theories upon which the Relief of the poor has been administered in England from the time of Elizabeth to the present. Upon what assumptions, psychological or sociological, does the mode of administration prevailing at present appear to proceed? and how far do these assumptions correspond to actual fact?
  3. Give the principal means by which the commercial system proposed to increase the quantity of gold and silver in any country. How far are any of these employed at present in European countries? How far are the grounds on which they are retained the same as those criticized by Adam Smith?
  4. State carefully how far you consider the method of Political Economy to be inductive, and how far deductive. Illustrate by considering the evidence on which Ricardo’s Theory of Rent is maintained: distinguishing between different propositions which may appear to be combined in the theory, either as it was stated by Ricardo, or as it has since been modified by others.
  5. Give an account of the restrictions upon Free-Trade in Money at present existing in England: examining how far they can be justified on the ground of

(1) Their real effects.
(2) Their supposed effects.

  1. Bastiat argues that in a state of society based on Free Contract, there is naturally a perfect harmony of economic interests among its members. Examine carefully how far this is true, independently of any monopolizing of the natural agents of production: and discuss the answers which Bastiat (and others) have made to the objections that may be drawn from the fact of such a monopoly.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 85.

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.
FRIDAY, Nov. 29, 1872. 9 to 12.

  1. Distinguish between Productive and Unproductive Labour, between Simple and Complex Co-operation, and between Fixed and Circulating Capital.
  2. Point out the fallacy of the argument in favour of extravagant expenditure grounded upon the supposition that it is good for trade.
  3. ‘As the population of the country increases, agricultural produce has a tendency to become more expensive.’
    Why? Shew the importance of the words printed in Italics.
  4. What is Communism? What were the distinguishing features of the scheme proposed by Fourier? Discuss its practicability.
  5. Analyse the ‘cost of labour.’
  6. Describe the systems of tenancy known as Metayer and Cottier.
  7. Determine the causes which regulate the prices of
    1. old china vases,
    2. potatoes in the London markets,
    3. cotton dresses.

Has gold a price? Has it value?

  1. A draper buys up all the manufactured silk of a pattern that happens to be fashionable in the hope that he will be able to dispose of his stock at the high price occasioned by this manoeuvre. Is this a safe investment of capital?
  2. Investigate the social and economic effects of ‘Out-door relief’.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 115.

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.
FRIDAY, Nov. 29, 1872. 1 to 4.

  1. What exactly is Credit?
    Compare the economic effects of the ‘credit’ which a tradesman gives to his unproductive customers, and that which he obtains from a banker.
  2. Criticize upon Adam Smith’s principles the propriety of the following taxes under our present circumstances:

(1) A fixed duty levied upon the farmer for every acre sown with wheat.
(2) A tax upon every article sold by auction, levied upon the seller.
(3) A tax upon maidservants.

  1. In what various ways has the scale of prices in different countries been affected by the operations of Governments upon money or the precious metals?
  2. Under what circumstances is international trade between any two countries profitable? Is it advantageous to the whole population of each country?
  3. State the principal provisions of the Bank Charter Act. Upon what grounds is it generally attacked?
  4. What exactly is meant by the Exchanges being unfavourable to a given country? Is such a state of things advantageous to any persons in that country?
  5. Under what circumstances does Adam Smith consider that protective import duties are advisable? Apply his arguments to the present trade of England.
  6. What has Adam Smith to say upon “the discouragement of agriculture in Ancient Europe”?

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 115.

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.
SATURDAY, Nov. 30, 1872. 9 to 12.

  1. How do you define a tax? Are gas and water rates, and tolls on bridges, taxes?
  2. Give some account of the principal causes which make the Rate of Discount in any country fluctuate from year to year. Why do Consols fall at the mere anticipation of a war between two foreign countries?
  3. Describe some of the principal ways in which Governments have interfered with the natural price of food.
  4. Bastiat maintains that the ‘domain of what is gratuitous is continually enlarging’: explain this statement, and shew what use he makes of it.
  5. How does Bastiat define Value? According to his use of the word, would it be accurate to say that the value of meat has trebled during the last fifty years?
  6. In discussions upon Communism we frequently meet with the terms Natural and Artificial Organization of Society: what is the distinction between them?
  7. On what grounds is property in land singled out for special attack? How does Bastiat meet such attacks?
  8. Give some account of the functions of Banks in earlier times, and compare them with their present functions.
  9. What does Adam Smith understand by the Natural Progress of Opulence? How has it been interfered with?

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 116.

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.
MONDAY, June 2, 1873. 9 to 12.

[Fawcett’s Manual of Political Economy]

  1. Distinguish between Wealth, Capital, and Money.
  2. Illustrate the two following statements:
    1. The labour of productive labourers is not unfrequently unproductive.
    2. Labour which is unproductive may yet be very useful.

How does Fawcett propose to extend Mill’s definition of Productive Labour?

  1. Investigate the advantages and disadvantages of farming on a large and small scale.
    How far would it be possible to secure the advantages of both large and small farming by the application of the joint-stock principle?
  2. “In the absence of agricultural improvements, more land is not brought into cultivation, unless the value of agricultural produce is increased.”
    Shew the connexion of this proposition with Ricardo’s theory of Rent, and examine any objections which have been brought against that theory.
  3. “The increase of national prosperity has as yet made but little impression upon the condition of the labouring classes.” Do you think that this statement is true? If you do, how do you account for the fact, and what remedies do you consider the most likely to be effectual? If you do not, state the reasons for your opinion.
  4. What are the principal causes of the different rates of wages in different employments, and in different localities either of the same or of different countries?
  5. What are the elements of which profits are composed? In what sense is it true that “the profits of different trades have a constant tendency to become equalized”?
  6. Give a short account of the tenure known as Métayer, pointing out under what conditions it is likely to work well.
  7. What are the principal points in which the laws regulating the price of iron ore, and those regulating the price of cotton fabrics, differ? How is the price of an ancient statue determined?
  8. Give some account of the laws which regulate the value of gold.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 355.

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.
MONDAY, June 2, 1873. 1 to 4.

(Half the total marks for this paper will be assigned to the Essay.)

  1. State as strongly as you can the arguments for and against the appropriation of landed property by the State.
  2. What is meant by the Solidarity of Society?
    Discuss the relation between the Solidarity of Society and the social effects of the principle of Competition.
  3. Compare the views of Smith and Bastiat upon the nature of Value.
  4. “Where Malthus saw Discordance, attention to this element enables us to discover Harmony.”
    What was the nature of this ‘Discordance’?
    How is Bastiat enabled ‘to discover Harmony’?
    Compare the views of other Economists.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Write an essay on one of the following subjects:—

(a) The Mercantile System.
(b) The Navigation Laws.
(c) The Poor-law Question.
(d) The Custom of Primogeniture.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 356.

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.
TUESDAY, June 3, 1873. 9 to 12.

  1. State and criticise Smith’s account of the elements that form the natural price of commodities.
  2. How does Smith divide land considered in its relation to rent? Is the division a sound one?
  3. Trace the effect of the progress of improvement upon the price of (a) silver, (b) cattle, (c) wool.
  4. Explain the nature of a promissory note, a bill of exchange, an exchequer bill.
    What circumstances make the rate of exchange unfavourable to a country?
  5. Examine Smith’s views with regard to the comparative benefit to society of the employment of capital in farming and in manufactures.
  6. Shew how credit facilitates production.
  7. Discuss the economic effects of bounties on production, and on exportation of corn.
  8. Give some account of the Methuen treaty; the motives which led to it; and its effects upon the trade of the countries concerned in it.
  9. Discuss the comparative advantages and disadvantages of direct and indirect taxation.
  10. Investigate the causes of the prosperity of new colonies.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1872 to Easter Term, 1873 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 357.

Image Source: Mathematical Bridge at Queen’s College, Cambridge University (1865).